Ömer Cihad Vardan

President, DEIK

President Vardan was born in Sakarya in western Turkey on November 2, 1962. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering at the Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) and completed his Master’s Degree on Manufacturing Engineering at Ohio State University, USA. Upon completion of his studies, he was invited to work as a Research Engineer at the “Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing” in Columbus, Ohio. Following his return to Turkey, he started his career as a manufacturing engineer responsible for CAD/CAM processes of Stringer Missiles at Kale Group. He later worked at UTE Holding for the sales of CAD/CAM software of McDonald Douglas Unigraphics. Since 1991, he has been the partner and the General Manager of his family business, Çukurova Heating Systems.

He chaired many non-profit Private Sector Organizations such as Economic Development Foundation (İKV), Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MUSİAD), Natural Gas Equipment Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (DOSİDER). He also serves as the Board Member of Turkey-US Business Council (FSECC) and Turkish Climatization (HVAC) Assembly Sector Member under the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB). He has also been board member of The National Human Rights Institution of Turkey.

As the Chairman of the Economic Development Foundation (İKV) between 2014 and 2015, President Vardan delved into Turkey-EU relations and oversaw and led the publication of several reports, bulletins, journals as well as organization of conferences and meeting on Turkey’s EU process. In September 2015, Vardan was appointed as the President of Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEİK).